A fighter with many special moves that appear to come from the world of pro wrestling. Incineroar has many moves from its original game, like Darkest Lariat, Cross Chop, and Revenge. Its Final Smash is Max Malicious Moonsault. Let the Z-Power explode and deliver a powerful blow!

Incineroar (ガオガエン, Gaogaen) is a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. It was confirmed as a playable character alongside Ken and Piranha Plant on November 1st, 2018. Incineroar is classified as fighter #69.

H.D. Quinn, who voices Professor Kukui's Incineroar in the Sun and Moon anime, voices the Pokémon in English. In Japanese, it is voiced by Unshō Ishizuka, who passed away before Incineroar's reveal. Incineroar also has different voice actors for the French and German versions due to its name being different in those languages.

Incineroar draws many comparisons to some of the slowest, hardest-hitting fighters in Super Smash Bros. history: it is a super-heavyweight with the sixth-highest weight (tied with Charizard), the nineteenth-fastest falling speed (therefore classifying it as a fast-faller), and average air acceleration. However, it is the overall slowest character in the game, with the slowest walking and dashing speeds in the base game, the eighth-slowest air speed, and the twelfth-slowest initial dash speed.

As a character that pays homage to professional wrestling, Incineroar's moveset boasts an abundance of single-hit attacks and throws, and its attacks have respectably large hitboxes for a close-range fighter of its mobility. Contrary to its sluggish movement, its frame data is fast, and almost all of its moves are heavily damaging and capable of KOing very early, while also having respectable lag in spite of their power. Unlike most other hard hitters, Incineroar's weaker attacks are very reliable combo starters that work at a wide percent range, giving its moveset an excellent amount of utility.

Unsurprisingly, Incineroar has a multitude of KO options. Its smash attacks are all powerful in their own right, and each have their unique perks: forward smash comes out surprisingly quickly, kills extremely early, and deals good shield damage; up smash has a wide hitbox that is useful for both anti-air tactics and damage racking; and down smash momentarily shifts Incineroar's hurtbox upwards, allowing it to dodge grabs, attacks and even projectiles to act as a hard punish. When sweetspotted, Incineroar's neutral aerial can be used to KO; if not, it can still function as a powerful combo starter, especially for an out of shield option. Its forward aerial, and back aerial both deal good damage and are capable KO options, while offering Incineroar range to outspace opponents. Its down aerial is a powerful meteor smash that can still KO even if the sourspot hits. Forward tilt is Incineroar's quickest KO option on the ground due to its knockback growth and semi-spike angle, and dash attack can KO at high percents.

Incineroar's combo starters make up the rest of its moveset, and are notable for their reliability. Up tilt's wide hitbox allows it to function as an anti-air, and easily combos into itself or aerials at low-mid percents. Down tilt has good range, lowers Incineroar's hurtbox, and has excellent combo potential throughout all percent ranges, allowing combos into up tilt or up smash at low percents or aerials at high percents. Up aerial is Incineroar's go-to aerial juggle option due to its wide hitbox, capability of comboing from up and down tilts, and can even KO outright at higher percents.

Of note are Incineroar's throws: despite its average grab, Incineroar is notorious for having one of the best sets of throws in the game. Apart from down throw, all of Incineroar's throw are KO options for any given situation: forward throw has high base knockback and can KO at high percents; back throw when performed at the ledge is the strongest throw in the game (rivaling the now second strongest throw, Ness' back throw in SSB4) and can KO the lightest fighters exceptionally early, though due to its launch angle and lack of resistance to DI, it can be survived if done mid-stage and technically can be considered inferior to Ness'; up throw easily KOs with the assistance of high platforms and low top blast lines; and down throw, being Incineroar's only combo throw, allows it to combo forward smash, Darkest Lariat, or dashing up smash on fresh stocks, dealing as much as 35% during 1v1s just from two hits.

Incineroar's special moves complete its moveset with versatile tools. Darkest Lariat is Incineroar's get-off-me option, possessing fast startup, a long duration, transcendent priority throughout its hitboxes, invincibility for its arms, and a strong early hit. Though its power gradually weakens over time, its perks allow it to outprioritize many moves (even weak projectiles) while hitting hard. Alolan Whip is a unique command grab that has varying effectiveness based on Incineroar's input: the strongest version (a lariat) KOs extremely early, while the second version (a back body drop) can KO easily near the top blast line.

Cross Chop can contest against other attacks due to its super armor during the start, and the descending tackle deals high knockback. It is also a powerful combo finisher or sacrificial KO, as the initial descent's high base knockback allows it to gimp any character at 0% should the descending hit connect. Revenge is a unique counterattack that retaliates with a weak hit, but stores a stackable power increase that affects Incineroar's next move; with a sufficiently strong buff, it gains exorbitantly powerful punishes, with moves such as forward smash, Darkest Lariat, Alolan Whip, and most infamously back throw turning into some of the strongest attacks in the game. Finally, it should be noted that none of Incineroar's moves render it helpless under normal circumstances, allowing it to mix up Cross Chop, Alolan Whip, and a directional air dodge while recovering.

However, Incineroar's strong abilities come at a cost. Its aforementioned abysmal mobility and lack of a projectile make it extremely easy to camp out and causes it to have a terrible approach, giving it issues similar to what Ganondorf had in SSB4, in which it has trouble getting close to opponents to begin with. While it has less of an issue breaking out of combos or faring against rushdown tactics due to its better frame data and special moves, any sort of projectile or sufficiently long disjointed range is enough to keep Incineroar at bay in general, since its only options to break through such tactics is Darkest Lariat, Cross Chop and Revenge. Adding to this issue is its limited and linear recovery, which has limited angles and is one of the most unreliable in the game despite the ways it can be mixed up; Cross Chop turns into an inevitable self-destruct if Incineroar is not directly below the ledge or above stage level, while Alolan Whip grants mediocre distance and has high ending lag. As a result, a semi-spike of sufficient strength is all it takes for Incineroar to be KO'd, and any combo that drags it offstage is usually fatal. Finally, Incineroar's moveset is not perfect despite its strengths, with some attacks having issues like small horizontal hitboxes (up tilt and up aerial), tendency to whiff (neutral attack's hits and Cross Chop at certain positions), and variable performance (Darkest Lariat is extremely laggy despite its out-prioritizing ability, Alolan Whip can fail outright or turn into a different move, and Revenge is completely lost once an attack lands or Incineroar is thrown from a grab, making it possible to waste it entirely).

Overall, Incineroar falls within the "grappler" playstyle archetype: it excels when taking advantage of close-range openings, where it can land powerful blows or start consistent combos that rack up damage quickly in only a few hits, all while being difficult for an opponent to shove off due to its staying power and heavy punish abilities. Its excellent strength and combo potential make it formidable once it wins the neutral game, but it is just as easily kept in control by its weak mobility, and any opening on its end is costly due to its extremely limited recovery, similarly to Ganondorf.

Incineroar has been buffed by game updates. The most notable one involves its recovery move, Cross Chop, which travels farther than before, heavily improving its notoriously weak recovery at certain angles (although lower angles that are not directly below the edge are still almost impossible to recover from). Some of its moves have also been improved by being able to grab edges faster (up aerial), gaining the ability to auto-cancel (down aerial), or dealing more knockback (up smash and up throw). As a result, Incineroar fares better than it initially did during the game's release.

Incineroar will display various animations after using certain attacks, such as striking a boastful pose if it hits, or expressing frustration if it misses. These animations are all interruptible. All pose-inducing attacks (excluding neutral attack's third hit) result in a crowd (separate from the standard crowd) to cheer.

Note: All numbers are listed as base damage, without the 1v1 multiplier.

A knifehand strike, followed by a knee lift, followed by an uppercut. If the third hit lands, Incineroar will taunt by pointing its finger towards the ground. Unlike many neutral attacks, holding the attack button only causes Incineroar to do a single attack unless it connects. The first hit can jab reset, and appears almost identical to the Pokémon anime's depiction of Throat Chop.

An upward arcing headbutt. Has a wide hitbox above Incineroar and grants Incineroar's head intangibility (frames 6-11), allowing it to fend off aerial approaches. Combos into itself at 0%, or a neutral aerial or up aerial from 25%-75%. The move has blind spots directly beside Incineroar's legs, meaning it can miss short or prone enemies.

A legsweep. Has impressive combo potential, allowing follow-ups into neutral attack or grab at 0%, up tilt from 18%-90%, up smash from 50%-69%, forward aerial from 30%-145%, back aerial from 40%-170%, and up aerial at percentages as high as 210%. Despite only using one leg for the attack, both of Incineroar's legs become intangible during the move: the intangibility for the attacking leg lasts on frames 8-11, while the other leg lasts on frames 9-11.

A dashing knee strike, similar to Zero Suit Samus' dash attack. Deals less damage when late. The clean hit KOs at 102% from the edge of Final Destination. If it lands, Incineroar will kneel on one knee, and point its thumb towards itself while gloating.

An enzuigiri. If it lands, Incineroar will gloat with its arms spread out, similarly to its down taunt. It has decent range and has a sweetspot on Incineroar's foot, which deals high shield damage. Extremely damaging and powerful without sacrificing in speed, the sweetspot KOs at 39% from the edge of Final Destination. However, the sourspot is underwhelming in comparison.

An upward double axe handle. If it lands, Incineroar will look to the sky and point upward, and it will clench its fists in dismay if it misses. Starts at ground level and has a rather big hitbox that covers the front of Incineroar and even reaches slightly behind it, all while having intangibility on its arms and hands (frames 13-18). Keeps consistent power throughout the move, and can KO at 116% on Final Destination.

A jumping splash. If it lands, Incineroar will point its finger upwards while on the floor, and it will pound its fist on the ground angrily if it misses. As Incineroar leaves the ground while using the move, it can dodge ground attacks and act as a hard punish. Sends at a semi-spike angle, deals high shield damage and, like forward smash, it is incredibly powerful, KOing at 62% from the edge of Final Destination. However, it has heavy start-up and ending lag.

A dropkick. Deals more damage and knockback if the feet hitbox lands. Starts fast enough to hit opponents if buffered from a short hop. Auto-cancels if Incineroar lands before the hitbox appears, allowing it to cancel tumbling. Launches at a semi-spike angle, and can KO at 110% from the edge of Final Destination.

A back kick. Like forward aerial, it deals more damage and knockback if the feet hitbox lands. Starts fast enough to hit opponents if buffered from a short hop. KOs at 89% from the edge of Final Destination, and auto-cancels with a jump.

An outside crescent kick. Has a wide arc, covering above Incineroar, but cannot hit opponents directly next to it. Auto-cancels with a short hop, allowing it to be spammed. Can juggle into itself, but opponents can react out of it. Generally useful for combo chains.

A giant swing, similar to Mario and Wario's back throws. Deals collateral damage to bystanders, with the back hit dealing less damage. Sends too far for any follow-ups apart from dash attack at 0% if the opponent misses a tech. Powerful for a throw, KOing at 133% from the edge of Final Destination.

A German suplex. When used right at the edge, it is potentially even stronger than Ness' back throw, being capable of KOing at 90% from the edge of Final Destination. It can even OHKO the lightest characters at the edge of stages while under the influence of Revenge. However, further away from the edge Ness' back throw is still stronger, Incineroar has higher knockback until about 120% where after, Ness' back throw becomes stronger due to higher knockback growth. It can also hit bystanders, as it launches them at a lower angle and KOs them even earlier (at 75%).

An Argentine backbreaker rackdrop. Incineroar poses with its arms raised and fists clenched upon completion. Has too much ending lag to combo into anything, but can follow up into an up aerial or Cross Chop if the opponent does not react in a sufficient amount of time. Like forward and back throws, it is extremely powerful, KOing at 139% on Final Destination, and KOs significantly earlier when used on a platform.

A chokeslam. Incineroar pumps its fist upon completion. Unlike Incineroar's other throws, it is a combo starter instead of a KOing option. It has forward smash or dashing up smash as true follow-ups at 0%. It can also combo reliably into Darkest Lariat and neutral aerial at low percents, and forward and up aerials at low to medium percents. Due to Incineroar's overall slow speed, however, its combo potential wanes past medium percents.

Spins rapidly to perform a series of discus lariats. Loses strength as the move goes on. Incineroar gains invincibility during the move (frames 5 and 6 on its whole body; frame 7 on its head and arms; frames 8-57 on just its arms). Starts extremely quickly, and the entire move possesses transcendent priority, allowing it to break through opposing attacks (and weaker projectiles) apart from moves with sufficient range. Incineroar can slowly move left or right by holding a direction, and the move also slows its descent, though its slow speed means it is not suitable for recovery. The early hit KOs at 108% from the edge of Final Destination.

A command grab involving Incineroar lunging a short distance forward to grab opponents. Victims are thrown against wrestling ropes that appears after the grab connects. Depending on when the special or attack button is pressed after grabbing an opponent, Incineroar will perform one of three different moves: a lariat that launches the opponent the direction Incineroar is facing (input just as the opponent touches Incineroar); a back body drop that launches the opponent vertically (input any time after the opponent rebounds); or a failed attempt that causes the victim to collide against Incineroar's head, dealing 4% to both (too early/no input). Upon executing the lariat, Incineroar poses with its arms in the air and its head tilted upwards. The lariat deals 20% and can KO at 72% from the edge of Final Destination, the back body drop deals 12% and can KO at 159% (or earlier with a low ceiling), while the failed version cannot KO at all (outside of extremely situational gimps). During the throw, Incineroar is granted super armor, and if the opponent is hit out of the move, Incineroar will shrug towards the screen. Does not cause helplessness, which allows Incineroar to use it to extend its recovery.

Leaps upward while engulfed in flames before descending diagonally to perform a cross chop. Incineroar gains super armor a few frames after its initial ascent (frames 4-15), and Incineroar can change its direction right before starting the move. Causes an explosion once Incineroar lands. The rising and descending hits have set knockback, with the descending hit having extremely high base knockback; this is capable of gimping opponents even at 0% for a sacrificial KO, with Incineroar always being KO'd after its opponent. Incineroar's descending body hitbox is similarly powerful, KOing at 75% from the edge of Final Destination, with the explosion being almost as powerful. However, the move has high ending lag. Unlike most up specials, Cross Chop does not render Incineroar helpless (unless Incineroar lands during its descent and does not touch solid ground), though its awkward angle requires it to be used extremely high for recovery, as it is a self-destruct any other way.

Points its chest outward, retaliating against incoming attacks or projectiles. Functions as a counterattack, albeit much differently; Incineroar retaliates with a weak burst of flame, takes significantly reduced damage from the retaliated attack, and its next move is powered up. As a visual indicator, Incineroar's body radiates an orange glow. This buff can stack depending on the number of countered moves and damage resisted. The buff lasts for a very long time (around 60 seconds), though it is reduced slightly each time Incineroar uses an attack and misses, but it is lost entirely if it is grabbed. Once a powered up move lands, the buff is removed. If a smash attack, Cross Chop, or Alolan Whip's lariat lands while Revenge is active, the camera will perform the Special Zoom. At maximum stacks, Incineroar is able to deal an excess of 70% with just a single smash attack, giving it the strongest possible attacks in standard matches. The flame attack also grants intangibility (frames 1-19).

Activates its Incinium Z and lunges forward. Upon grabbing the first victim it comes in contact with, the victim is thrown against the ropes of a wrestling ring. Incineroar then uppercuts the victim upward, dropkicks them even further upward, uppercuts them again, and then finishes with a diving battering ram that sends it and the victim crashing into the ring to generate an explosion within the ring as a boxing bell chimes. The victim is sent flying alongside any bystanders. Can KO as early as 20%.

From the start of Ultimate, Incineroar has usually been considered a mid-tier by most professionals, with access to moves that have the potential to deal high knockback and damage thanks to Revenge, a powerful back throw that can potentially KO earlier than Ness', and a suicide KOing option in the form of Cross Chop, which can be performed out of a down throw. It also had a decent amount of success from players, especially Magister, who placed well at both regional and national tournaments.

Despite this, as the metagame progressed, Incineroar's representation has been noticeably limited overall, with below-average results at major tournaments, as well as the removal of its down throw-Cross Chop combo. Magister also started attending less tournaments while placing worse at the tournaments that he did attend. In spite of this, its combo potential and power balancing its poor recovery has prevented it from dropping further.

Incineroar's opponents are all heavy characters and are stylized in a way as if it was similar to a Championship Tournament. Additionally, all rounds aside from the final round take place on Boxing Ring.

Although Incineroar does not appear in the World of Light opening cutscene, it was vaporized and later imprisoned alongside the rest of the fighters (except Kirby) when Galeem unleashed his beams of light.

Incineroar was one of the many fighters that fell under Dharkon's control upon Galeem's first defeat. It can be found on the southwest path of the Realm of Darkness, where the spirit of Caeda must be beaten to access it.

Incineroar's Fighter Spirit can be obtained by completing Classic Mode. It is also available periodically for purchase in the shop for 500 coins. Unlocking Incineroar in World of Light allows the player to preview the first spirit below in the Spirit List under the name "???". As a Fighter Spirit, it cannot be used in Spirit Battles and is purely aesthetic. Each Fighter Spirit has an alternate version that replaces them with their artwork in Ultimate.

Additionally, Zangief's spirit is placed within an Incineroar puppet fighter for his Spirit battle.

Aside from Zangief, Incineroar happens to have few similarities as another grappler-based Street Fighter character, Alex, such as having similar mobility and even sharing few moves, such as Flying Cross Chop (albeit with different properties).

Prior to the addition of DLC, Incineroar was the only fighter in Ultimate with the most recent games of origin, Pokémon Sun and Moon, which were released on November 18, 2016 for the Nintendo 3DS.

Unshō Ishizuka provided the Japanese voice for Incineroar in Ultimate before his unexpected passing on August 13, 2018. Ishizuka recorded all of his voice clips for the game before his death.[1]

Inexplicably, Incineroar's Japanese voice clips are much more muffled and lower in quality than other languages, especially given how they appear to be in a much higher quality in the Japanese version of its reveal trailer.

Incineroar is the only playable Pokémon that does not have a special move based on a Pokémon move of its primary type.

It is also the only playable Pokémon to not have a special move that originated from Generation I.

Incineroar is the second character revealed for Ultimate to share a reveal trailer with a character not from the same franchise, having been revealed in the same trailer as Ken and being the second character revealed within that trailer.

Incineroar is the only first-party newcomer in Ultimate who was not represented in any way in previous Super Smash Bros. installments, due to not even existing at the time.

Incineroar is the only Pokémon who is not fought in any of its series' home stages when being unlocked. It is instead fought on Boxing Ring, Little Mac's home stage, as a reference to its reveal trailer and wrestling influences.

Incineroar is also the only Pokémon character who doesn't travel to any of its home stages from it's series in it's Classic Mode route.

While Incineroar's Classic Mode route predominantly has super-heavyweight fighters as opponents, Morton and Ludwig, both for Round 4, can be considered exceptions, as they are each lighter than Piranha Plant.

Incineroar is tied with Charizard as the lightest super heavyweight fighter. (Both characters of which serve as giant opponents in Round 4 of Bowser's Classic Mode route)

Due to an error on the American official site blog, Incineroar does not have its own fighter tag on its blog entry, and is thus not listed when sorting the "By Fighter" category. This also applies to Falco.

Incineroar is the only playable character who was not in the game's original project plan when it was drafted in December 2015. When choosing characters, Sakurai wanted to pick a character from a newer game, and with the upcoming release of Pokémon Sun and Moon, a Pokémon spot was reserved to be determined later. Although Sakurai did consider Decidueye, he ended up choosing Incineroar, mostly because he has never done a wrestling-oriented fighter before.[2][3][4][5]

Excluding touching a red trampoline from Pac-Jump, Incineroar cannot render itself helpless apart from a very specific condition, this being landing with a Cross Chop and failing to touch solid ground during the initial rebound. It shares this trait with Kirby, who can only experience helplessness if he slides off an edge during Final Cutter (or with certain Copy Abilities).

Incineroar is one of the few fighters to spin differently in their star KO: it spins forwards instead of away from the screen, similarly to how star KOs acted in SSB4. It shares this trait with Cloud, Corrin, Shulk, Inkling and Joker.

There is a visual glitch with Incineroar's eyes in Spirit Battles where it gains multiple irises when hit.[6]

Zooming in around Incineroar's neck during its reverse knockback animation reveals a gap between its neck and body.[7]

Incineroar appears slightly tilted in its damage meter compared to its character artwork. This distinction is shared with fellow Pokémon character Greninja.

Coincidentally, both have the Dark type as their secondary typing and are final evolved forms of starter Pokémon.